The Wolf and the Mage
by MrsSpiffy
Summary: Fenris definitely did not understand Hawke, not since he met her, and the confusion at the mage continued- as did his feelings about her  Fem!Hawke/Fenris  and I know I suck at summaries.
1. Paranoia

Fenris walked the empty, nighttime streets of Kirkwall silently, constantly alert and suspicious of the shadows in the dingy Lowtow streets. He had to meet Anso, a Dwarf, and though he hated roaming the streets without being used to them yet, he had left his hideout because the Dwarf had finally gotten some news for him. His green eyes scanned the street warily, and he stepped into the shadows when he spotted a figure ahead of him.

Fenris relaxed though, when he saw that the cloaked person was sitting, hunched over and shaking slightly in the night's chill. A beggar, he thought, even a Tevinter spy would never stoop so low as to impersonate a beggar. Fenris moved silently, but somehow, as he got close, the beggar turned his hooded head slowly to look at him.

Or perhaps it was a she, because as they looked towards him, he saw long hair fall out of the thick hood to rest on their shoulder. Fenris froze, how had they heard him? Perhaps he had underestimated his hunters.

"Oh come now, I don't bite, Messere."

The woman was not a Tevinter, a least, her accent showed no haughtiness or harshness, nor the submissive tone of a slave or servant. He relaxed, barely, she could be hired bait – working for his enemy for a few silvers. The weight of his greatsword was reassuring as he stepped towards the woman, scanning the rest of the street for an invisible ambush.

She didn't flinch back, as most had when first seeing him – his strange markings and hair, his foreign armor and the greatsword on his back that was nearly as big as he was – but instead she tilted her head ever so slightly and looked him over curiously. That was worse than flinching, he thought, remembering Magisters in Tevinter, house guests of his Master, looking at him the same way – as an interesting pet, a lab rat, and a useful tool.

Before he could say anything to the stranger, an insult, a threat, she opened her mouth with an amused curl to her lips,

"Well, you look like you're far away from home, Messere." she said, he could hear a light chuckle, and it made him angry.

"So what if I am, it's none of you business." he snapped, and the smile disappeared. He moved closer, intending to pass her by and continue to Anso, but she moved when he was closest, moved so quickly that his only reaction and instinct was to draw his sword.

In the next second, he realized what had happened. She had her arms outstretched to him, holding a small bowl for coins, and he had his greatsword above her head, ready to slice her in half.

"Copper for a poor woman, Messere?" she had lowered her head to look at the ground, and he wasn't sure if she had realized that she could have been killed. There was no fearful tremble to her voice or her hands. Fenris pulled the sword back into its place on his back, the woman lifted her head.

Fenris had never really paid attention to women before, and he convinced himself that the only reason he stared at her now was his suspicions, trying still to read if she was an enemy or not.

But another part of him could not help but stare, she was beautiful – and it caught him off guard because of her previous and seemingly haggard appearance. The confusion she felt was evident on her face, and he looked down the street to remind him of where he was supposed to be going.

"I… apologize." he said and cleared his throat awkwardly, the woman stood and the hood of her old and ragged cloak once more shrouded her face in shadows.

He ignored the feeling of disappointment.

Fenris was about to turn away again, to head towards Anso, when she pressed the small beggar's bowl to his breastplate insistently.

"If you have not the coin to spare, Messere, all you need do is say so, and I shall leave thee be."

Fenris frowned slightly, still unsure what this woman was thinking, to continue to speak to a man who nearly killed her not five minutes ago. He rummaged through his nearly empty coin purse and two silver coins clanked into the bowl. The woman grinned and bowed her head to him,

"Thank you, Messere." she said simply as he walked away from her again, determined to reach Anso before daylight. But he heard her speak softly to herself in an amused voice,

"Ah… Tevinter coin… I knew he wasn't from around here."

Fenris finally found the flinch Dwarf, cowering in a corner of Lowtown's Bazaar. Fenris tried to make his footsteps audible but the Dwarf still jumped out of his skin when Fenris said his name.

"AAH!" he yelped, but realized it was just the elf who'd hired him, "Oh, sweet sodding ancestors, it's just you." he took a deep breath to calm himself, "I have good news, I've arranged with the Red Iron's leader- Meeran- to send word out to one of his best mercenaries."

Fenris frowned, he disliked dealing with mercenaries, they were expensive and usually didn't know what they were doing despite their big talk.

"You call this good news?" Fenris crossed his arms, not convinced. Anso held his hands up nervously.

"Now… Now just wait a minute Fenris, Meeran said this guy was the best he ever had, reliable and skilled… ex-mercenary now." Fenris raised an eyebrow, his budget and he still not convinced.

Anso made a last effort, "He… he also said the guy works for coppers, but won't switch sides if your enemy has a bigger coin purse."

Fenris leaned on his heels for a moment, thinking about it. "Sounds to be the best I can get.." he said after a moment. "Very well." Anso's relief was obvious.

"Praise the Ancestors! Meeran said the message would get there by tomorrow at the latest."

"Who is this mercenary anyway?" Fenris asked, wanting information was a survival instinct by now.

"I think Meeran said his name was Hawke or something…" Anso said.


	2. As Per Usual

Varric was still unsure about the woman he followed. Who he had chosen to follow, he corrected in his mind, he was the one to suggest the whole You-Become-A-Partner-In-The-Expedition-And-I'll-Help plan to her in the first place. After all, she had a reputation, a good one, with the Red Iron. And Varric felt better having someone with experience go down to the sodding Deep Roads rather than just the cheapest hirelings they could find.

But he had not yet realized how utterly weird this woman was. Her name was Hawke, though it was her surname, and no one really knew what her first name was. He doubted her brother even knew, because he just called her "Sister" in that I-Hate-Your-Guts tone of voice. Though Varric did have to admit, Hawke was a strong name for a Hero, he could pass the time travelling thinking of good metaphors to use in his stories.

But she also weird because of her fearlessness of being an apostate in a city crawling with Templars. He'd seen her talking to the sodding Knight-Captain Cullen, as if she were talking about the weather. It was unnerving to think of his now-leader locked up in the circle, and Varric suspected that her brother shared the same feelings. Not that Carver showed much of anything besides a lot of brooding and loathing.

At the moment though, Varric didn't complain. It was late and he had been well into an Epic retelling of Hawke's journey to Kirkwall from Lothering. He would only admit to the Hawke siblings that he added in a few more Darkspawn and perhaps an ogre or two that weren't in the actual fight. He had been sitting by the fire, happy to have the attention of even the guy about to pass out on the floor, when she walked in.

Varric had seen her come in out of the corner of his eye, flanked by her brother as usual. He made an effort to keep the story on track, despite the distraction and excitement that came with her visit. Her coming to the Hanged Man usually entailed a new story, a new adventure, and a new chance to use Bianca on some idiots.

He decided to be a little coy and went into some detail on her appearance, since most of the audience were men, it helped the experience anyway.

"So there she was- as the ogre came at her- her long black hair whipping around as she moved, her body practically a blur in the battle-" he saw someone pass out but no one around the poor sod broke their attention from the story. "Her bright blue eyes- like lyrium!- why, that ogre could have been frozen on the spot by their depths alone!" a soft laughter broke out, but shushed almost immediately. "Oh that beast tore through its brethren like the angriest bronto you've never seen, but it didn't stand a chance! She whipped that staff around so quickly that it barely even touched her by the time it hit the ground- dead." some awed faces had the small smiles that let Varric know he'd hit a good stopping point. He stretched his arms and yawned theatrically, "That's all the story I have for you tonight, boys" some disappointment, but they returned to their tables promptly.

Hawke came up to him, grinning, "Do I really have lyrium eyes, Varric?" she asked with a laugh and he laughed too. Carver barely cracked a smile, but Hawke more than made up for it with that infectious grin of hers.

"Well Hawke, you came here for more reason than just to listen to a story you lived, what's going on?" he leaned back in the big arm chair, a smirk playing across his lips. She crossed her arms and looked almost giddy with excitement.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Got a letter from Meeran, said he's got a good job for me, and that I don't even have to talk to him to get it." she smirked, "Said to go talk to Anso the Contact, here in Lowtown… not sure what the job entails, but it's always a good idea to bring along backup." she nodded her head towards him with a pouty look, "and Bianca just makes me feel safe." he had to laugh,

"Don't give her any ideas Hawke," he chided, "But I'll come with you, and keep Bianca close." Hawke's grin returned, and her eyes really did look like lyrium in that moment.

Anso wasn't hard to find, the streets were empty as soon as daylight left the Bazaar, and the only dwarf cowering between two empty stalls was hard to miss. Varric saw Hawke's demeanor change, her business-mode. She walked forward to Anso with her face determined, but Varric saw that her eyes were curious.

"Are you Anso?" she said as she stepped towards the dwarf. Varric had to bite his tongue from laughing at how the dwarf nearly peed his breeches at her approach.

"Sweet sodding ancestors, don't sneak up on people like that!" he said exasperatedly. Varric saw Hawke fighting the smirk too.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to startle you." she said, "But I was told you have a job for me." Anso looked confused and glanced at the duo behind her.

"N-Not for you, him." he pointed at Carver, who raised an eyebrow and looked surprisingly… surprised.

Hawke raised an eyebrow as well and was also confused, especially when Anso said, "You- You're the Hawke Meeran told me about, right?"

Varric couldn't control his laughter anymore, and Hawke herself was straining to keep it in, Carver glared at the dwarf, "I doubt it." he said, sending the glare towards his sister and pointing, "She's the leader, she's the Hawke you're looking for." he said icily. Hawke straightened her posture once more as Anso returned his gaze to her. She cleared her throat.

"Yes, I'm Hawke, and I'm a girl, thank you." she said, "And you have a job, do you not?" Anso snapped out of his apparent disbelief and nodded his head slowly,

"I.. I uh, yes. Yes, a job." and he proceeded to tell the group about smugglers and lost cargo and that they'd find it in the Elven Alienage. Varric stretched, at least they weren't being sent on a goose chase to the Wounded Coast in the middle of the night.

They made it to the abandoned house in the Alienage easy enough, but when they were attacked as soon as Hawke shut the door behind them. Her staff was the quickest to react to flying arrows and charging blades, she twirled it off of her back and a bolt of lightning shot through a mercenary charging for her brother. Varric had managed to get Bianca ready to fire by then and shot a bolt through a guy's neck as he got a little too close to Hawke. She returned the gesture by smiting one out of three mercenaries that were approaching him, Bianca's bayonet let loose and he charged into the fray along with Carver.

Varric had always wondered how it was that Hawke never threw a fireball or a bolt of lightning that hit him or her brother. It was something about magic that made him curious, and as the mercenaries lay dead and she searched the chest, the staff sizzling for a moment after the battle, he wondered if he'd ever find out the mystery of Hawke.

"It's… empty." she said, standing up, unsure if she'd missed another chest or something. Varric kicked the dirt of the hut's floor and snarled,

"All that trouble for nothing." Varric had gotten his arm sliced up a little in the previous battle, and the wound stung. Hawke simply shrugged and healed everyone's wounds quickly,

"I guess we should go back to Anso and tell him…" she said, her brother shook his arms out, getting the tingle of magic out of them. Varric followed Hawke out of the hovel, followed by her brother.

Varric nearly ran straight into her legs when she stopped in her tracks as soon as they left the building. After he regained his balance, he peered around the woman's robes to see that they were surrounded.

Great, he thought, and just when you think things are gonna be easy.

"Th-That's not the elf!" an armored woman barked, the man behind her moved to a fighting stance,

"It doesn't matter, he said to kill anyone who comes out of the house!" and the slavers charged for them. Carver plunged into the middle of the group as Hawke and Varric found some distance. He did that thing with his greatsword that Varric had always just heard about in stories, whirling the greatsword all around him and killing anyone in its way. Even Varric had to admit that that was cool, even coming from the broody brother.

Varric let lose three bolts at the same time, killing one but only slowing the other two down. Hawke was beside him though, and her staff whipped around again, letting loose a CRACK of lightning, a little stronger than usual, and it hit most of the remaining slavers. Varric and Carver soon finished them off.

A slaver mage appeared, and though Carver and Varric tried to help Hawke out, the mage was only focused on her, and was putting up all sorts of defenses for weapons. Hawke slammed her staff onto the ground and it stayed there even when she raised her hands from it. Fire radiated from her hands, and she lifted them up, a few fireballs fell from what seemed like the sky onto the slaver mage, she lifted them up all the way above her head, and Varric could feel the power in the air around her as the few fireballs turned into a storm of fire that the slaver mage's little magic shield could not survive for long.

Hawke picked up her staff when it was over with that weird, infectious grin, and he saw even Carver crack a smile-if only for a moment.

"Geez Hawke, where'd you learn that one?" Varric laughed, and she laughed too,

"I learned it from a book, but come on, let's try to get back to Anso before daylight." she looked up at the sky, seeing the little fringe of light around the blackness. She turned for the stairs out of the Alienage, and another slaver stood blocking their path.


	3. Warnings

"I don't know who you are" the slavers' commander snarled, "But you made a serious mistake in coming here."

Hawke glanced behind her at the dead slavers that now littered the Alienage.

"Lieutenant, I want everyone in the clearing, NOW!" he yelled, Varric readied Bianca and the Hawke siblings readied themselves as well.

But no one was quite ready for what came next, "Captain…" a slaver croaked and stumbled out onto the stairs, blood seeping from every crack in his armor, Varric turned to Hawke, and she looked as confused as he felt.

"Your men are dead," an elf appeared soon after the slaver finally fell to the ground. Varric raised an eyebrow at the white hair and weird armor, "And your trap has failed." the elf descended down the stairs easily, and Varric noticed his hand was covered in blood.

"I suggest running back to your master while you can." the elf passed the slaver commander, not even looking at him. The stupid sod didn't listen to the warning, he stomped towards the elf,

"You're going nowhere slave!" he snarled, grabbing the elf's shoulder, and in the next moment the weird tattoos on the elf's body glowed bright, and the elf whipped around his fingers were like claws and they glowed the brightest.

And that's when the elf plunged his hand into the slaver's chest, pulling out his heart. Varric looked away, not really knowing how else to react to… to that. Hawke was staring at the elf, and Varric couldn't tell what she was thinking at all. Perhaps she was shocked after all.

"I am not a slave." the elf snarled defiantly and turned back to Hawke and the others.

Since Hawke didn't say anything and Varric himself was at a loss for words- must be because he's tired- the elf spoke first.

"I… apologize." he said, awkwardly, "When I asked Anso to provide a distraction for the hunters, I had no idea they'd be so… numerous."

"No worries," Hawke smiled, and it just made Bianca's trigger itch a little less, "This sort of thing happens all the time." she returned the staff to her back.

"I'm glad you could handle it." the elf said, "My name is Fenris. These men were Imperial bounty hunters seeking to recover a magister's lost property…namely myself." Hawke didn't say anything, so Fenris continued, "They were trying to lure me into the open. Crude as their methods were…" he glanced behind them, at the small piles of dead slavers. "I could not face them alone. Thankfully, Anso chose wisely." the elf smiled,

"That seems like a lot of effort to find one slave." Varric could hear her amusement at the situation, he knew by now that she tried finding humor in everything… but he also knew she was smart.

"It is." he said simply, and Hawke's smile reached her eyes, if only barely.

"Does this have anything to do with those markings?" she asked, not missing a beat.

Fenris lifted his arms slightly and Carver leaned forward a little to get a better look, "Hmm… yes, I imagine I must look strange to you." the elf was amused too, though it didn't last, "I did not receive these markings by choice." and by then Varric had tuned it out, focusing more on a tiny scratch on Bianca, he didn't like to listen to someone brood. Hawke didn't brood though, so when she spoke again, his ears tuned back in.

"If they were really trying to recapture you, then I'm happy I helped." and he had to smile, as weird as Hawke was, she was a good person.

Some more words, and she told him that the chest was empty, the elf looked disappointed.

"You didn't need to lie to get my help." Hawke said after a moment.

"That remains to be seen." he said, and Varric could almost feel the bitterness wafting off of the elf.

Fenris knelt down to the commander's body and searched the pockets as Hawke looked on, curiosity written all over her face.

When he found something, he looked even angrier than when he ripped out the guy's heart.

"It's as I thought. My former master accompanied them to the city." he stood and looked at Hawke with determination. "I know you have questions," that was an understatement. "but I must confront him before he flees… I will need your help."

Carver sighed and muttered something about not getting any sleep tonight.

"If it means fighting more slavers, I'll help you." Hawke said, Varric stretched.

I will find a way to repay you. I swear it." Hawke smiled and might have said something, "The magister is staying at a mansion in Hightown. Meet me there as soon as you can. We must enter before morning."

Hawke glanced at the sky, "Quite the constricted time frame, hm?" she commented, "I'll hurry."

But the elf had already begun the trek to Hightown when she returned her gaze to him.


End file.
